Stephen Trosley: Are you getting the story from a reputable source?

Stephen Trosley

Thursday

Nov 29, 2007 at 12:01 AMNov 29, 2007 at 12:58 AM

But some not-so-ethical reporters in print and in TV use the flash-bang technique to put the story target on the defensive. It works like this: You slip in a quote you know can be misunderstood, you accept a number from a questionable source without verification or you construct the story in such a way that something shocking or “negative” is inferred.

A former colleague introduced me to what I now call the flash-bang style of reporting.
Law enforcement units deploy flash-bangs to surprise or stun people they are trying to overcome. This usually happens during hostage stand-offs, the occasional distraught-with-the-state-of-the-world types barricaded in the back bedroom of granny’s house and other SWAT-style adventures of the hazardous kind. I know these things because I have a deputy sheriff son-in-law on a special-weapons team and because I watch cable TV.
The reason good editors demand that reporters get things correct the first time around is because we know that the first story may be the only story a reader gets to see on any given issue or topic or person. The day of the passionate daily newspaper reader has passed, which is why good, tight back-grounding is necessary in every story. You just can’t count on people following a story from the first day through to the bitter end.
But some not-so-ethical reporters in print and in TV use the flash-bang technique to put the story target on the defensive. It works like this: You slip in a quote you know can be misunderstood, you accept a number from a questionable source without verification or you construct the story in such a way that something shocking or “negative” is inferred.
This is not to be confused with the “smoke-’em-out” technique, but that’s a separate column.
Now you’ve got the story target – be it an individual, a group or whatever – back on his or her or its heels, scrambling to repair the damage or get the corrected information out onto the street.
Sometimes flash-bang happens because reporters are human and only one human being that I know of was perfect. (Well, there’s my granddaughter, but that’s her opinion.) It has become a standard practice in a profession where the honorable, the fair and the ethical have become blurred by competition and poor training.
The principle involved of course is that people usually form opinions and take action based on first impressions. It stems from our biology and cultural experience. The ignoble in my profession like to use this to their advantage: Create the spectacular story, make a big noise and maybe you’ll get ahead.
If it pleases the court, let us examine the Internet, the citizen journalist and blogging.
Newspapers and their Web sites have credibility. You can make all of the jokes you want about it, but the reason our detractors especially make jokes about it is because it’s a fact of life.
The bloggers like newspaper Web sites because they, the bloggers, can borrow at no interest our credibility and because we have a fairly consistent audience. Also, a daily newspaper’s audience is larger in our base communities than almost any other media most of the time.
I’ve always thought of blogging akin to the personal journals some assign to high schoolers in lieu of serious writing/composition training. “Dear Diary…” Tsk-tsk-tsk.
I have to admit, however, that some of the bloggers do a good job writing and digging up information. Others are better at sharing what they think than they are at sharing what they know. Newspapers and other media Web sites hide behind a court ruling that determined as long as we do not edit or filter our blogs, we are simply a common carrier – like a phone company – transmitting information.
Blogging has a ton of momentum and is going to be a key part of all future news Web sites, whether I approve or disapprove. When it comes to blogs and the flash-bang artists, I don’t have to forewarn you.
You’re all good citizens, and all good citizens know better than to form an opinion without careful research through a variety of sources.
Steve Trosley is available at steve.trosley@journalstandard.com. Mr. Trosley is the publisher at The Journal-Standard in Freeport, IL, and former publisher at the Norwalk Reflector in Norwalk, Ohio.